If you have been faithfully following the COVID-19 stay-at-home restrictive orders, you may have become a victim of “COVID-15,” the additional, unexpected, unwanted 10- to 15-pound weight gain that is making your clothes not fit so well any more.
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A change in routine; being home in comfy, stretchable clothing in front of the TV; and having unhealthy, processed foods ready to grab have set us up to lose the battle with COVID-15. We are set up to gain the weight because of excessive or unhealthful eating, taking an extra daily shot of alcohol, and being inactive, bored, depressed, anxious, and isolated from coworkers and family. Beware – weight gain can be “catching”; we tend to adopt the same poor eating habits and eat the same junk foods as those around us.
Since psychiatry can be a sedentary profession, I’ve (R.W.C.) kept myself very active and physically fit. Prior to the pandemic, I played tennis and ran every day. I was obese only once in my life. I had not realized that I had gained a lot of weight.
Thankfully, a physician called me “obese.” Initially, I was angry at the doctor, however, I realized that he did me the biggest favor of my life. I changed my diet and eating habits, and for the past 20 years, kept my weight between 135-140 pounds and my BMI at 23 consistently – until the pandemic stress caused me to fall into the same bad eating habits that have caused many others to gain the COVID-15.
I was surprised to see that when I weighed myself, and I had gained 12 pounds! I immediately modified my diet and increased my physical activity. I have now lost the extra 12 pounds and will offer suggestions that may help you and your patients exceed your prepandemic physical condition.
Possible solutions
1. Keep a food journal. Write down what you eat, the amount of food you eat, the time you are eating, and your mood at that moment. Keeping a small notebook to record what and when you eat is important because upon review, it will make you face reality and be accountable for what you put in your mouth. Until you review your journal, you may have underestimated the amount, as well as the kinds, of food and drinks you actually consume. A food journal can show your areas of struggle and unhealthy eating habits and help you make necessary changes in your habits and diet to eventually lose weight. You will be less likely to eat junk food or have an extra serving of food. If you do not want to use paper and pencil, you can download an app on your phone, such as myplate tracker to keep track of your food and calorie intake. Do your journaling immediately after you eat and include snacks; do not wait until night time to record your food and journal. Include your mood or how you felt during your meal or snack (for example, were you bored, sad, or anxious) since this information will indicate why you may be overeating.
2. Develop healthful eating habits. Eat a maximum of three meals and three snacks per day but eat only when you are hungry (that is, when your stomach growls or you feel light headed). Limiting yourself to eating only when you are hungry will help eliminate emotional eating to fill a loss in your life or to deal with feelings of stress, anxiety, sadness, or isolation, which have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Buy eat only healthful foods and not items with empty calories, such as chips, cake, and items with sugar. When you are eating, devote yourself to that activity only, eat slowly, and savor each bite. Do not watch television during your meal time.
3. Record the amount and type of exercise you engage in each day and determine the number of calories burned. Walk, run, or bicycle outside, or exercise inside with stretching, weights, or an exercycle. You may use a website, such as diet tool on WebMD.com to calculate daily calories burned. To lose weight, calories burned during a day must exceed caloric intake. You may want to invest in a Fitbit or an Apple Watch and use the health section to determine your caloric intake versus output. Analyzing your caloric data will provide a concrete measure of your progress.
Dr. Richard W. Cohen
4. Do not overconsume calories or underconsume protein. Protein plays a key role in the creation and maintenance of every cell of your body, and because the body does not store protein, it is important to consume it every day. To meet basic protein requirements, the DRI (Dietary Reference Intake) recommends 0.36 grams of protein per pound (0.8 grams per kg) of body weight. This amounts to: 56 grams per day for the average sedentary man, and 46 grams per day for the average sedentary woman. There is also an app entitled the Protein Tracker that can simplify your calculations.
5. Drink water. It is important to be hydrated to regulate body temperature, keep joints lubricated, prevent infections, deliver nutrients to cells, and keep organs functioning properly. Being well hydrated also improves sleep, cognition, and mood. Your daily water intake by ounce should be equal to your weight in pounds multiplied by two-thirds (or 67%) to determine the amount of water to drink daily. For example, if you weigh 175 pounds, you would multiply 175 by two-thirds and learn that you should be drinking about 117 ounces of water every day. You can also meet some of your daily water requirements by consuming fruits and vegetables, such as tomatoes, watermelon, lettuce, etc.
Also, drink 2 cups (16 oz.) of water before every meal: Often when you feel hungry, it is because your body simply needs water. Science has proven that drinking 2 cups of water before every meal helps you to eat less during meal time and lose weight. If you do this three times daily – at breakfast, lunch, and dinner – you have already consumed 48 ounces of water.
6. Keep track of your progress. In addition to keeping and analyzing your food journal, weigh yourself once or twice a week. Do not weigh yourself every day; you will not see any results on a day-to-day basis, but once a week gives your body time to regulate and show progress. Always calibrate/zero your scale before each use, and weigh yourself at the same time of the day (preferably after you first wake up in the morning) while wearing the same type of clothing. Keep a record of your weight in your journal to track your progress. Do not panic if the scale indicates you gained 1, 2, or 3 pounds, your weight can fluctuate because of glycogen storage, sodium retention, human bias, reporting or recall errors, and home scales can have a plus or minus 3 pound margin of error. Look at your weight trend over time. You may prefer buying a scale that indicates both weight and body mass index.
7. Celebrate and reward yourself with nonfood items. A healthful fitness and diet regime requires energy and dedication, so if you are able to follow a healthful routine, reward yourself with nonfood rewards for your good choices and new habits as an incentive to maintain your healthful behavior.
8. Don’t buy it if you can’t stop eating it. The biggest decision you make is when you decide what you are going to buy. Don’t lie to yourself in the store that you will only eat one at a time. Only buy what you can afford to binge eat if you can’t stop yourself from eating any particular type of food.
Nancy Cohen
9. Have someone hide the food you can’t resist. You can’t eat what you can’t find. If you can’t avoid having irresistible food around, ask another adult to hide the food from you.
10. Learn what harm foods can cause in your body. Read about the effects of high blood sugar and high blood pressure can cause in your body. Find out which foods boost your immune system. Demonize the bad foods in your mind. Make up your mind before you go into the store that you are going to read food labels and find the best quality food with the lowest amount of sugar or saturated fat. Appreciate the flavor of vegetables and fruit.
11. Treat sugar as if it were an addictive drug. You can’t have just one. If you reduce your craving for sugar by slowly reducing your intake of sugar, you will find that you don’t crave sugar any more. This won’t be easy, but once it is done, you will be preventing many of the ravages that sugar takes on your body over time. But you can’t have one piece of pie because the craving will come back. At some point, it may be more likely that you find that piece of pie too sweet.
Here are a few other ideas: Buy a gift for yourself or new clothes, makeup, a plant or flowers, running shoes, exercise clothes, fitness tracker, water bottle, book, movie or network subscription. Improve your home décor. Or treat yourself to online lessons for painting, music, and so on. Or you might adopt a dog, donate food to a shelter or food bank; or organize and declutter your home since staying busy will give you a reason not to eat. In nice weather, enjoy the outdoors by going for a walk, run, bikeride or by gardening.
We are all worried about getting COVID-19. Preventing COVID-15 will go a long way toward boosting our immune systems to help protect us from the coronavirus.
Dr. Cohen is board-certified in psychiatry and has had a private practice in Philadelphia for more than 35 years. His areas of specialty include sports psychiatry, agoraphobia, depression, and substance abuse. In addition, Dr. Cohen is a former professor of psychiatry, family medicine, and otolaryngology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. He has no conflicts of interest. Ms. Cohen holds an MBA from Temple University in Philadelphia with a focus on health care administration. Previously, Ms. Cohen was an associate administrator at Hahnemann University Hospital and an executive at the Health Services Council, both in Philadelphia. She currently writes biographical summaries of notable 18th- and 19th-century women. Ms. Cohen has no conflicts of interest.